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Friday, May 31, 1912:Today seemed like Monday to me, as I didn’t do much work yesterday. Went over to see Carrie.

Grandma’s gravestone is in the foreground. The brick building in the background once housed the high school that she attended.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

I’d like to tell you some more about last week-end. I got to tour the inside of the building that once housed McEwensville High School!

The school building is next to McEwensville Cemetery and is now empty, but from the late 1950s until a few years ago it housed the McEwensville Fire Department.

When I went to the cemetery to put flowers on relatives graves for Memorial Day, I noticed that the building doors were open and that there was a garage sale taking place inside.

With my heart beating rapidly I went into the garage sale, and told the story of Grandma and her diary.

I met a wonderful family, including Vincent Emery, who had purchased the building several years ago. He even gave me a tour of the second floor where the high school was located (the primary school was on the first floor).

Vincent Emery giving me the tour.

As I ascended the stairs, my whole body tingled with excitement. I finally was going to be in the room that Grandma had written so much about. Some things had changed since Grandma’s time. The stairs had been moved to enable the building to serve as a fire truck garage and the tile ceiling was from a later time.

But much appeared to be the same as it had been when it was a school. . . . wooden wainscoting . . . the chalk board . . .

That is so awesome that you were in the right place at the right time.
Once I was in a local cemetery doing genealogy research. As I was leaving, I saw someone making notes from the family tombstone I had been at minutes earlier. But I was too chicken to talk to her and I left;P

I’ve had similar experiences where I’ve missed opportunities because I felt shy. But I find that the older I get, the less shy I’ve become about approaching people who may have knowledge about something I’m interested in. And, that as a result, I’ve met some great people and had wonderful opportunities. I guess there are some advantages to getting older. :)

Sheryl, I am so glad that you had that wonderful opportunity. A couple of years ago, I had a similar opportunity — I still get goosebumps when I remember visiting the old McPherson school that was built on land that my 2x great grandfather donated. In his diary, he chronicled the building of the first school, and the testing of the “scholars” (he was on the first school board for the school.) Amazing how much and how little these old schools have changed over the years.

You’ve described so well how I felt–It gave me goosebumps to tour the school.

It’s interesting that the school board was involved in testing the scholars years ago. This makes me think about all of the school accountability issues today. People still are worried about whether students are learning what they were supposed to have learned.

That’s great that you got to go into the old school building. I hadn’t realized that you had never been inside it before. And to be allowed to take some photos – what a great addition for future blog posts.

It was absolutely awesome.I may have been the building once or twice when I was a child for fire company events–but I can’t really remember what it was like back then (other than that there were fire trucks parked on the first floor).

I know how you felt! Glad I didn’t miss this post. I wonder what Mr. Emery will do with the building…do you know? You’re so lucky to absorb the atmosphere and feel the ghosts, before any further major renovation.

Hello

I look forward to sharing my grandmother's diary with relatives and friends. Helena Muffly (Swartz) kept a diary from 1911-1914. She was 15 years old when she began this diary. I plan to post these entries one day at a time—exactly 100 years after she wrote them. I hope you enjoy this glimpse back to a slower paced time.

The header is a picture of the farm where my grandmother lived when she wrote this diary. It is located in Northumberland County in central Pennsyvlania about a mile outside of McEwenvsille. My father said that the buildings look similar to what they looked like when he was a child.